About “Bam”

In contrast to “Kill Jay Z” which features Jay seeking to kill his ego, “Bam” finds him acknowledging its importance to his success. The patois word that gives the song its title is generally used as an interjection for a sudden happening, though the phrase ‘bam bam’ usually refers to a contentious situation or an exciting event, among otherthings.

Jigga subsequently arrived in Jamaica with engineer Young Guruon June 8th and others to shoot the music video and tour Kingston, meeting with the Marley, Sister Nancy and others between Trench Town and Tuff Gong Studios. This marks the first time the two have collaborated, though they have known each other since as early as the mid-2000’s. Marley is one of TIDAL’s co-owners.

Building on its foundation, “Bam” features multiple dub-style delays, reverb, a subtle dub siren and rhythmic, dancehall-esque cuts during Jr. Gong’s verse. It joins the long line of songs sampling Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam” including Kanye West’s “Famous” and a reggae remix of Alicia Keys‘ “No One” which also features Damian. Its chorus interpolates Jacob Miller’s “Tenement Yard.”

What have the artists said about the song?

The song ‘Bam’ with Damian Marley, it’s just jammin', it’s just like the song. But it’s secretly Shawn Carter saying, ‘Man, you need a bit of ego.’ It was because of me and the things that I’ve done, this is JAY-Z saying you needed a bit of ego for us to arrive at this point.

What has featured artist Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley said about the track?

What happened was I was going to LA to shoot a video, and he knew I was gonna be out there, and that’s where he was working. So he hit me up and asked if I have a few hours to stop by the studio. Some of the ideas he already had, like the hook he already had what he wanted [for it]. After doing the hook he said ‘You can just do your thing on the beat for a while.’ So I was kinda freestyling on the beat, just letting the beat play and fooling around. And then they edited my freestyle and kinda constructed what is my verse basically. So that was my whole experience of how that sound came about.

What has Jr. Gong said about his Roc Nation and TIDAL boss Hov?

[JAY-Z] is one of my favorites. The clarity, the lyrics are relatable. For example, even as a Jamaican and listening to hip-hop music you don’t really have to strain your ears to get what he’s saying. You get the point and I appreciate that. And I’m a fan of his music, you know what I mean?

What has producer No I.D. said about the song?

Hip-Hop is one of the one forms of life where we say ‘Listen to the kids.’ When people were like ‘Man, that Hov album is too adult’ I’m confused, like, ‘Being an adult is bad?’ When I look at the younger producers I saw they were outworking me. They work at a really fast pace. So I was like ‘Let me get on my “beat treadmill,”’ and I’m going to make 100 beats. In four months it was 500.

The Sister Nancy beat was one in that batch. That beat is a Picasso with some stop sign elements. [It’s timeless, but has those pop elements found everywhere]. So the whole [4:44 recording process] I was like ‘We gotta do that one!’ The connection with Sister Nancy came when we had the concept to go press the 45 rpm records in Jamaica. I didn’t go, but they flew down and Sister Nancy was there [at Tuff Gong Studios]. I heard the story of everything she had went through [since releasing ‘Bam Bam’]. And Guru being Guru, puts her in the booth and records her singing it. So that went on the record. It’s Sister Nancy, in Jamaica, at Bob’s studio—you can’t pass that up! It was too good. I hate that I missed it.

After Reebok had used “Bam Bam” in a commercial in 2014 without her permission, it was revealed that Sister Nancy hadn’t received any royalties for her song in 32 years. No I.D. has spoken on why situations like this inspired him to work with Capitol Records:

It’s just the story again, of the business being crooked. That’s why I want to be an executive. This art is our natural resource. We don’t have land, oil. We got this art. To allow it to be continuously misused, exploited, misdirected—I’ll take the bullets sitting in the label because somebody special is going to need me.